


Awkward Firsts

by orphan_account



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), First Kiss, First Love, Homophobia, M/M, Rating May Change, Reunions, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 16:12:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13080537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Ten years after high school graduation, Eddie finds himself reflecting on the memories of his high school sweetheart. While Eddie moved on to New York City, Richie remained in Derry and bought a comic-book store. When Eddie returns for his high school reunion, he realizes why he loved (and still loves) Richie so much.





	Awkward Firsts

**Author's Note:**

> I have not abandoned "What's In Your Head?" !! I just got the inspiration to write this, and I wanted to start it before I lost that motivation.

Most of the Losers Club chose to immediately leave Derry, after graduating high school. Bill moved on to become a successful author. Beverly was a freelance journalist who had nothing but dedication to the art of reporting. Hell, even Eddie had gotten a full ride scholarship to NYU.

The only two Losers to stay were Mike and Richie. Mike’s staying was understandable, due to his interest in keeping his grandfather’s farm, but Richie’s made much less sense. When they were teenagers, Richie would constantly talk about how he was ready to up and bail on this town, to move out to New York City and become an artist? Or a musician? Eddie couldn’t really remember because Richie’s aspirations were never rooted in reality. 

Eddie knew Richie had never left Derry because his mother would casually mention seeing “that Richie-boy at Freese’s” (though Eddie knew Richie was far from being a boy) over the phone. Sometimes, he became too preoccupied considering what Richie must be doing nowadays, and it frustrated several of his boyfriends to no end. 

“Why are you still thinking about your old high school boyfriend?” they would always ask him. 

Truthfully, he couldn’t explain it. His relationship to Richie wasn’t exactly the most meaningful, and looking back on it, he’s pretty sure what they were doing was just fooling around. The only answer he could give would be to chalk it up to childhood nostalgia because Eddie has known Richie since first grade. 

But, that couldn’t be right. Eddie has also known Bill and Stan for as long, but he didn’t lay awake at night thinking of how they must be doing. Past midnight, his brain was always occupied by the boy with big brown eyes, messy hair, and unconditional love for all his friends. 

Occasionally, whenever a boyfriend would kiss him, Eddie would be reminded of his first kiss with Richie. It was nothing more than a dumb high school dare. They were 15 and at a party at Greta Keene’s house, which Mike pulled his strings with the jocks to get them into. Eddie had assumed it was going to be the worst night of his life because he hated parties. They were the epitome of dirty and loud, making Eddie’s skin crawl when he was within a 10-mile radius of one. Actually, it turned out to be one of his best. 

Like any movie cliche, they had sat down in the living room to play spin-the-bottle, which Eddie didn’t want to play, to begin with. When his turn came, he crossed his fingers he’d get Beverly, because at least he could bear the idea of a friendly peck on the lips with one of his closest friends. She would know it means nothing, he would know it means nothing, and they could move on with their lives without Eddie actually having to kiss a girl he doesn’t know. 

As luck would have it, the bottle spun a person over, from Beverly to Richie. 

Oh hell no. 

He was not going to kiss his best friend at a high school party in front of everyone who already hissed slurs at him in the hallways.

His throat dry and his palms sweaty, he tried to laugh it off. “Gross,” he spat. “I’m not kissing a guy, much less Trashmouth.”

Greta smirked and said in a low voice, “would you rather take your penalty, Eddie?”

Greta had the ability to choose penalties at whim, and the one she had chosen for Eddie just so happened to be drinking toilet water. Eddie would honestly rather have her castrate him for everyone to see. 

Instead of speaking, he balled his fists in his lap and shook his head silently, small tears pricking at his eyes. All the while, Richie was intensely studying him, wondering if this was a dream come true or his worst nightmare. 

“Get on with it then,” she huffed. “We don’t have all night.”

He shuffled closer to his best friend, refusing to look into those wide eyes out of fear -- fear that Richie might discover something in his eyes that revealed he secretly wanted this. 

Their pulses raced at a mile a minute as Eddie leaned in for a quick peck, but Eddie knew he wasn’t going to be let off the hook that easily. 

“Uh-uh,” Greta mocked. “You know the rules. Twenty seconds, open mouth kiss. Unless, you want to scoot up to my bathroom, Eddie. I think my brother had an upset stomach this morning.”

Richie could see the tears prickling in Eddie’s eyes and made a mental note to get back at Greta for this later. Honestly, he knew he was going to have to make the first move to save Eddie the humiliation. Without hesitation, he placed both his hands on Eddie’s face, pulling him down into a sloppy kiss. Since it was both their first kiss, neither truly knew what they were doing, but Richie was in heaven. Even though their teeth awkwardly clacked into each other and Eddie had absolutely no clue where to put his hands, it was like they were the only people in the room. 

Eddie figured out what to do with hands as he twisted both his fists into Richie’s shirt. Vaguely, they could hear someone shout “faggots!” and the rest of their peers making noises of disgust and laughing at them. He knew they were being watched like a sideshow act (“hey, come look at the freaks kissing!”), but Richie smelled like Old Spice and cigarettes, and that shouldn’t be affecting Eddie as much as it was. 

When someone yelled times up, Eddie quickly separated from a very disheveled Richie. The other boy’s glasses were askew and his breathing was slightly erratic. Moreover, he was looking at Eddie like he hung the stars in the sky. A small bloom of pride bubbled in Eddie’s chest that he could do this -- that he could render “Trashmouth” speechless.

He guessed that was the first time he felt love for Richie Tozier, the walking, talking human disaster.


End file.
